A Wish. Granted.

July 3
Karen asked that I take a picture of the view to the east out the window of the guest bedroom.  She's excited about being able to come up with Hannah.  Karen brought her with when she was helping us with the dry radiant and Hannah made herself right at home.  At one point she headed upstairs and we heard her walking around the main floor exploring.  Next thing I knew I saw her peeking out the hole for the sliding door looking at us through the unfinished deck.  She saw Karen and came running down the stairs so she could be close to her mommy again.  Funny dog!  I think she'll like coming to visit too.

I think we'll place the bed so this is the view that you will see when you wake up in the morning.  I'm going to have to make sure that the landscaping doesn't block this amazing view.  There will eventually be a house across the street, but unless it is a three story mansion it shouldn't block too much of the view.  Imagine falling asleep to the moon shining on the mountainside and then waking up to the sun peeking up over the peaks.

I don't know if you noticed the little rock wall out the window. 
Yes, folks...I get not one, but TWO rock walls. 

Mark (with the track hoe) did a great job finishing the rock wall in the backyard.  Rob was unhappy about the extra expense but we both agreed that if we didn't take care of it now, it probably would never happen.  It creates such a cozy gathering area in the lower yard and will be a lovely area for a fire pit. 

Because the rocks are stacked with so much surface showing on the top it almost looks like an amphitheater.  I'm anxious to see how the dirt settles over the summer and I'm sure a couple of good rainstorms will help.

It's fun to walk around the house and start thinking about how we want to use our yard.  I'm starting to research WaterWise and FireWise landscaping ideas.  I'm a little discouraged at how sandy our backyard turned out to be.  But if I think about it we are building on what used to be the beach for Lake Bonneville.

This picture was taken the evening of July 3rd. The roofers got the roofing felt up, the plumbers got a good start on the rough plumbing and the heating crew dropped off their trailer. 

Rob and I stayed up at the lot to watch the firework show.  There were three other groups that drove up to watch them from the hill above our house.  I'm sure Laurie & Bryce's neighborhood was much more crowded, but they are much closer to the show.  We had a perfect view from our driveway.  As soon as the finale ended we closed up the back of the truck, jumped in and headed down the hill.  We got to 16th East and turned left just moments before all the traffic heading north got there.  If we'd been two minutes slower we would have had to wait for a kind driver to stop long enough to let us turn left.  When we got to the duplex we realized there were even more cars on 12th East; the line of cars going by our house was pretty steady until about 11:30.